Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

This distinction you draw between Egypt and Mesopotamia is the same, interestingly, in the Hindu world between India and Southeast Asia.

And in India, kings like Rajaraja Chola are the viceroy of Lord Shiva, and there are pictures of him standing below Lord Shiva in his temple.

But in Cambodia, the Khmer temples,

kings portrayed with divine attributes, they're holding the conch of Vishnu or whatever it is.

And we get some hints towards the end of his father's reign that he is making theological changes and there is a shift to the system.

Nothing as radical as what will happen.

And Akhenaten, we should say, is just the everyday Egyptian word for disk, isn't it?

We're going to go to the new city in a second, but just before we do so, just dwell on that body that you mentioned.

Absolutely.

The question is, is it a new aesthetic that he champions?

And I mean, to my eyes, I have to say, I think the whole thing of Nefertiti and her daughters with these same things is very beautiful.

I love the style.

If I had one piece of Egyptian art to loot and take into my home, it would be one of the daughters of Akhenaten from the Berlin Museum.

After our first Sellout Empire show, we've got a second show at the Rest is Fest this September.

And we've got a brilliant session lined up.

We're calling it Three Ayatollahs, an Iranian Dynasty.

We're going to be joined by a great friend of the show, Ali Ansari, one of Britain's foremost experts on Iranian history, but also an excellent storyteller.

Together we're going to unpack one of the most fascinating and urgent stories in the world right now.

How has the influence of the Ayatollah shaped Iran since the 1979 revolution?

Does the grip of the Islamic Republic appear to be fracturing?